Biodiesel yields of vegetable and fryer oil. Noah Shavit-Lonstein and Liz Rossman. As a response to the passing of peak oil, some environmentalists have proposed biodiesel, a gasoline made from plant oils, as an alternative energy source. This biodiesel can come from fresh oil or oil that has already been cooked in. In this experiment, samples of each were mixed with sodium methoxide, which acts as a catalyst. Transesterification was performed on both samples in order to produce biofuel. The reaction produced a flammable liquid, inferred to be biofuel, as well as a solid inferred to be glycerol. The biofuel yield was considerably higher than expected. It provided a 6:1 ratio of biofuel to glycerol, even though a 1:1 ratio was expected. The difference in biofuel production of each sample was a negligible total of 3%. Therefore, each source would be equally productive as a source of biofuel, though fryer oil is more environmentally viable.
Figure 1. Graph of glycerol and biofuel volumes for each sample.
Figure 1: Samples of oil during transesterification. Figure 2: Samples of biofuel with glycerol after transesterification.
Pelly, Mike. "Biodiesel recipe from Mike Pelly." Journey to Forever: Hong Kong to Cape Town Overland - An adventure in environment and development, join us on the Internet, all welcome, participation, online education, school projects, free of charge. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_mike.html>.
Biodiesel: Vegetable Oil vs. Fryer Oil
Biodiesel yields of vegetable and fryer oil. Noah Shavit-Lonstein and Liz Rossman. As a response to the passing of peak oil, some environmentalists have proposed biodiesel, a gasoline made from plant oils, as an alternative energy source. This biodiesel can come from fresh oil or oil that has already been cooked in. In this experiment, samples of each were mixed with sodium methoxide, which acts as a catalyst. Transesterification was performed on both samples in order to produce biofuel. The reaction produced a flammable liquid, inferred to be biofuel, as well as a solid inferred to be glycerol. The biofuel yield was considerably higher than expected. It provided a 6:1 ratio of biofuel to glycerol, even though a 1:1 ratio was expected. The difference in biofuel production of each sample was a negligible total of 3%. Therefore, each source would be equally productive as a source of biofuel, though fryer oil is more environmentally viable.
Figure 1. Graph of glycerol and biofuel volumes for each sample.
Figure 1: Samples of oil during transesterification. Figure 2: Samples of biofuel with glycerol after transesterification.
Works Cited
Hoffman, Vern. "Biodiesel Fuel." NDSU Agriculture — NDSU. North Dakota State University, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ageng/machine/ae1240w.htm>.
Pelly, Mike. "Biodiesel recipe from Mike Pelly." Journey to Forever: Hong Kong to Cape Town Overland - An adventure in environment and development, join us on the Internet, all welcome, participation, online education, school projects, free of charge. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_mike.html>.